Virtually all major providers of telecommunications services suffer losses as a result of fraud and non-payment. For purposes of discussion, a subscriber commits fraud by obtaining telecommunications services with no intention of ever paying for such services. For example, a subscriber commits fraud by charging the cost of telecommunications services to a stolen credit card or to a third party's number without that party's permission. Non-payment occurs when a subscriber fails to pay the incurred charges even though the subscriber intended to pay the charges when the service was rendered. For example, a subscriber with a previously good payment history may become unemployed and may no longer have the resources to pay for the services previous rendered to that subscriber.
Various techniques have been proposed to combat fraud and non-payment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,387, issued in the name of Arabina Mukherjee, on Nov. 7, 1995, and assigned to AT&T, discloses a technique for monitoring access to a telecommunications service. In accordance with the teachings of the '387 patent, the telecommunications network arbitrarily interrupts a subscriber's access. Upon each interrupt, the network demands an authentication code from the subscriber. If the subscriber does not enter the requisite code, the network denies further access. This technique is effective only for the particular service accessed by the subscriber. Thus, a subscriber with a non-payment history or a history of fraud in connection with another service provided by the same carrier may still obtain service by entering the requisite identification code. U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,521, issued on Feb. 27, 1996, in the name of H. Rangachar, and assigned to AT&T, discloses another technique for preventing fraudulent use of a telecommunications network. In accordance with the teachings of the '521 patent, a first data base stores, attributes associated an ongoing call made by a subscriber, such as the originating and terminating numbers. A second data base stores historical fraud data, such as the originating and terminating numbers associated with past fraudulent events. A rules data base stores rules for determining the action required for a given call. For each call, the network determines whether the attributes associated with the present call matches the data in at least one of the two data bases and if so, then the rules data base determines the requisite action. While the '521 patent is effective for certain types of fraud, the patent provides no mechanism for accounting for a subscriber's past activity related to other types of services obtained from the same carrier.
Thus, there is a need for a technique that detects fraud and non-payment in connection with multiple carrier services.